Sleepy Little Bedtime, written by Sally Symes, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    Poke your fingers through the board book holes to provide wiggly legs for the sleepy babies, the teddy, the bath frog, and even the sponge and book within this gorgeous book. All the usual baby and toddler bedtime routine is here, celebrated in rhyme and wriggles and yawns until we end with a 'Nighty-night, sleep tight!' 

    Simple. Clever. Perfect for the intended young audience and their adult carers to enjoy together. 

Merry Little Christmas, written by Sally Symes, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

            A solid gem and joy of a Christmas board book for little ones and their grownups to share. Merry Little Christmas is a book of bright, beautiful, fun and it’s really funny. It offers linguistic enjoyment and join-in actions – 

 

‘This little teddy wears green and red.

Wiggle wiggle, snuggle-snuggle!’

 

And the delight of being able to interact with the book to make its characters come to life as you poke fingers through holes to add legs. Perfect.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Greetings and a 'Carnival of the Clocks' by Nick Sharratt, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

Wishing all ABBA readers and contributors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  

 

Awfully Big Blog Adventure closes the holidays today, returning at the start of January.

Meanwhile, happy reading and writing, everyone, and thank you all!

Today is the winter solstice; the shortest, darkest, day of the year before we begin to head towards spring and summer once more; a moment worth celebrating. 

            In Brighton, on the evening of the 21^st December, home-made paper lanterns are lit and paraded through the city before being burnt on a big bonfire.

            Nick Sharratt’s Little Gem highly illustrated ‘Carnival of the Clocks’ story lets readers share that dark-light excitement and community celebration. 

            We meet the children and make the lanterns, then ‘Mrs Thistle blows her whistle’, and off we go to join the procession. Drum beats accompany the walk past the sights of Brighton. Then we look up at all the proud parents waving to us. We pass the lanterns to go into the bonfire pile, and we countdown ‘… three, two, one!’ to see the flames leap, and fireworks explode in the sky above. 

            Truly a gem of a bright fun accessible little book. 

And Hooray for a Lovely Christmas too!

Oh No! Shark in the Snow! by Nick Sharratt, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

    Well, this book has it all as a book to share with young children Christmas treat. 

    Many of us are already familiar with Nick Sharratt’s Timothy Pope and his shark-seeking telescope.  So this story feels like a meet-up with a much-loved friend, to play a game we already know, but for a fresh Christmassy take on it. This time Timothy and his dad’s trip to the park is a properly Christmassy feeling one. We’ve got sparkles and snowflakes on the cover, deep, tabboganing snow inside, and even Santa himself, of course bearing gifts. The story enjoys that wonderful pantomime element of the ‘Oh, no it isn’t’ and ‘Oh, yes it is!’ moments as Timothy thinks he’s seen a shark … that isn’t a shark, and then doesn’t notice the real shark that we do notice. Tension and thrills of the mildest and most playful kind. As it says on the cover, ‘Fin-tastic Festive Fun!’ 

    Enjoy!

    Happy Christmas!